


Internal Bruises

by jessiestark



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), captain america: civil war - Fandom
Genre: Captain America: Civil War Spoilers, Post Captain America: Civil War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6698323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessiestark/pseuds/jessiestark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. That's how most describe Tony Stark.<br/>But the truth is something totally different, specially after the events triggered by the Sokovia Accord.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Internal Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> This is set post Captain America: Civil War.  
> Contain spoilers.  
> Please be warned.

                     "Mr. Stark, what makes a wealthy man like yourself, who has a pretty good life and is also an Avenger invest in so many projects all at once? Do you think is some kind of debt you owe to the institution you graduated?"

       Tony looked up after the question was asked. His mouth moved like the answer was already on the tip of his tongue but really, it was not. Actually, it was what people expected from him. And kind of funny on how they see him. Tony was always playing a character to them. His whole life had been that way.

       To them, he was always the rich man who had the whole world on his hands. Everything he wished was his, there was no way he could ever be sad or even hurt. All the women that come and go on his life, all the parties and drinking. Now he has a suit of armor in which he flies away and saves people. He is a super goddamn hero, so somehow Tony Stark is the sum of how to be successful.

       Yet, he had never felt that way. Heck, he would trade his money for having his parents back. Yes, he did not like his father that much, but his mother always meant a lot to him. He was her little boy, and all he needed now was a big hug from her.

       Apart from that, there is also the incredible gift of ruining everything all the fucking time. If something was going well, there was this ticking noise, like a time bomb ready to explode at the next move where he would screw things up. Pepper was one of them, for instance. It took a long time for them to be finally together and it seemed like heaven. Someone who loved him and would help him just because she cared about him. Not only because he is who he is.

       And then right along with Pepper, Iron Man came and brought with him the urge to save people. Well, not in a way as Rogers would put it, but at least fix the mess he had caused selling guns all that time. And helping them to deal with villains. Did that make him a hero? Not at all. He was just a guy who had the material to make things right for everyone.

       But being Iron Man wasn’t just a hobby. He _was_ Iron Man, and Iron Man was Tony Stark. They were one and could not be split apart. So Pepper was in danger because of him, almost killed because of him. And boom. There we were - screwing up one more time.

       ‘We should take some time to think about us, Tony’, she said. But both of them knew that ‘time’ she was talking about wasn’t temporary. Damn, he missed that redhead so badly. So it turned out that the only thing left for him was the Avengers. After SHIELD went down, he took the responsibility to build a new home for the team, a base where they could train other people. The Avengers were his home and friends.

       What happened next was that the United States Government had the pleasure to take that away as well. For being who he is, he took a step forward to sign the Sokovia Accord. He thought that if he could intervene between the Secretary of State and the rest of the Avengers, the Accord could be shaped until everybody was happy. No, it wasn’t a good choice, but it was the best one they had.

       Just to make things worse, Steve Rogers chose to be on his bestie side. Yes, it turned out that Barnes wasn’t the responsible for the explosion in the UN, but then the story took a swing to a totally different view. Barnes **_was_** the responsible for killing his parents. And from that moment, well, screw the UN – that was his mother they were talking about. The woman he missed most since he was a kid. Barely knew how to survive in the world when she left, and all that thanks to Cap’s best buddy.

       Tony would easily beat the shit out of Barnes right now, but he knew that if he ever wanted to be friends with Steve again, he couldn’t. He knew that if he ever wanted the Avengers to have the possibility of being what it once was, he couldn’t. Yes, he had screwed up with Wanda and the others but he had no choice. Heck, didn’t even know they would be held captive that way.

       And no, he wasn’t angry - the anger wave had passed already. He was just… sad. Sad that everything he touched turned out wrong somehow. Was he a tainted version of King Midas? Take Ultron for an instance. Maybe the Sokovia Accord was all a consequence of his actions. He was a disaster, a total mess, but that wasn’t the Tony Stark people wanted to see.

       The makeup on his face covering the bruises from this last fight with Cap wasn’t the only mask over him. Tony has been wearing a mask since he was a teenager.

                     "What makes a man like me invest in so many young minds? Well, the Tony from a few years ago would say that those are brilliant projects and it isn’t anyone’s job to say who deserves it better. If I wasn’t given a shot of belief, I wouldn’t be who I am. The next Iron Man could be there, and we wouldn’t know if we don’t give them a shot. But this version of me in the present can say that is all about who they are - people. Those are the minds who put everything they have on their projects. They could and can change the world with it and make it a better place, be it for us, our kids, or our grandkids. They mean hope and that’s something you can never throw away. Oh, and if it’s a debt? Not at all. I don’t make debts."

 

                 Where does a man with nothing left can try to hold on to survive?

                 Hope. At least he hadn’t screwed that up. _Yet._


End file.
